Alternative Fuels For Cars

A Comparison of Alternative Fuels For Cars

There are currently a number of different alternative fuels being promoted as altenatives to fossil fuel petrol and diesel - electricity, hybrids, biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, hydrogen, and others. Now the US magazine Popular Mechanics has made a detailed comparison of the true benefits and disadvantages of each fuel, and their true costs.

The article is available online and it very comprehensive. Included is an excellent graphic of the manufacture of ethanol, and a link to a wonderful comparison chart of petroleum alternatives. The chart shows how much of each fuel would be used to drive a suitable vehicle across the USA.

In summary, ethanol and biodiesel seem to be the likely winners - particularly as ethanol is already being added to petrol around the world, and biodiesel is gaining more and more users. Electric Cars are good in that they produce no emissions directly - however 1 ton of coal would be burned to generate the electricity required to drive across the USA compared to 4.5 barrels of crude oil if petrol was used. The electricty powered car was by far the cheapest to run with fuel costs 1/10 those of a methanol powered vehicle.

How far can you drive on a bushel of corn?
Crunching the Numbers on Alternative Fuels (1) - Popular Mechanics Magazine.
Alternative Fuels Comparison Chart (2) (1.2MB PDF)

Web Link References

(1) http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/2690341.html
(2) http://media.popularmechanics.com/documents/Fuel_of_the_Future-e852.pdf